Tokyo Bekana

 Tokyo Bekana is a loose-headed, lightweight cabbage that is often mistaken for lettuce due to its similarities in flavor and appearance. The large leaves have a frilly consistency with ruffled edges and are green with prominent white veins spanning across the surface. Connected to the leaves, the narrow white stems are smooth, crunchy, and juicy, widening at the base. Tokyo Bekana is crisp and tender with a mild, sweet, and spinach-like flavor with mild pepper nuances.

 Tokyo Bekana cabbage is best suited for both raw and cooked applications such as sautéing, steaming, and stir-frying. The frilly green is mild, lacking in traditional cabbage flavors, and can be shredded and tossed into green salads, mixed into pasta dishes for added crispness, braised as a side dish, or sliced and added to soups. Tokyo Bekana cabbage can also be lightly stir-fried and mixed with cooked vegetables and meat, used as a lettuce wrap, or pickled into a sweet and spicy condiment. 

 

Chinese Greens

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large garlic clove, minced or pressed
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
• 6-10 cups washed, stemmed and chopped bulky greens (cabbage, bok choy, or Chinese cabbage, spinach, beet greens, Tokyo Bekana)
• 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine
• 1 tablespoon vinegar or fresh lemon juice (optional)
• 1 teaspoon sugar or honey (optional)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce or tamari soy sauce

Directions

Heat the oil in a wok and add the garlic and ginger root.  Sauté very briefly.  Add the greens and toss to coat with oil.  Add the rice wine, vinegar or lemon juice, honey or sugar, fish sauce, and a splash of water.  Delicate greens (spinach and beet greens) will take about 1 minute.  Sauté bulky greens (cabbage, bok choy, Chinese cabbage) 5-10 minutes, or until tender.  If you use tamari soy sauce instead of fish sauce, add it just before serving.

Source: New Recipes from Moosewood Restaurant

 

Provencal Tokyo Bekana

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon chopped thyme
• 1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
• 3 (3-by 1-inch) strips orange zest
• 3 pounds bok choy or Tokyo Bekana (2 to 3 heads), cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
• 1 pound tomatoes (3 medium), chopped
• 1/3 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Heat oil in a deep 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers, then sauté garlic with thyme, bay leaf, and zest until garlic is pale golden and mixture is very fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add Tokyo Bekana, tomatoes, olives, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until Tokyo Bekana is crisp-tender, 10 to 12 minutes. Discard bay leaf and stir in parsley.

Source: Gourmet